ESPN Cellphone Has
Great Sports Content
But Many Trade-Offs

By

Walter S. Mossberg

Updated Feb. 16, 2006 11:59 p.m. ET

When you think of U.S. wireless phone carriers, the name ESPN hardly leaps to mind alongside Verizon, Cingular, Sprint and T-Mobile. But this month, ESPN joined their ranks, sort of. It leapt into the cellphone business not merely with vastly increased sports content available from phones and a new phone customized for sports fans, but also with a whole new cellphone company.

The sports network isn't actually building cell towers or licensing frequencies from the government, as traditional carriers do. Instead, it is...